Protecting and Promoting the Evolving Maritime Heritage of the Tidal River Clyde

Social Responsibility

Industrial Decline

The decline of shipbuilding and related industries has led to social and economic problems including crime, poor health and high levels of youth unemployment. While developing
solutions to these complex issues is not within the competence of CDPI what we are potentially able to do is offer worthwhile initiatives that communities and young people can focus
on and seek purpose through.

Case Study: Govan Graving Docks and Community Regeneration

CDPI are backing the proposals from Ferguson Marine to return Govan
Graving Docks to use as a working dockyard for ship repair and
related work.

Alongside this Govan Docks Regeneration
Trust will be working to ensure
the development of the public areas of the graving dock site is
taken forward in a way that includes and benefits the local community.

Could Govan Graving Docks be a place to create a cultural and social
enterprise hub around a maritime heritage theme, alongside bringing
the industry the docks were built for back to Govan?
In an area with high levels of unemployment and social exclusion
this would be particularly significant. While a housing development
would bring short-term construction jobs (mostly for people outside
of Govan)
a working dry dock facility and visitor attraction would create
more long-term opportunities.

Govan Graving Docks offers an archetype location
to test new approaches to sustainable and sympathetic regeneration
that delivers real
benefit to local and regional communities. We will continue to
address the docks and the Govan Docks Regeneration Trust
as a case study as these aims are taken forward by that charity.

Sustainable Development

The way people make a living is going to have to change during this
century if we are to adapt to a sustainable approach to resource
consumption. New ways of defining work-life balance are going to
have to be developed
as demand for labour declines (due to automation and other factors)
and population increases. There are also emerging and serious discussions
around universal basic income that could increase future scope for
voluntary activity.

One of the aims of CDPI is to be able to develop and implement practical
approaches to this in a social enterprise / micro-enterprise community model.
There is
a clear need to move away from conventional approaches of top-down management
towards models of open collaboration and mutual-empowerment. This needs to
be done with an outward looking objective of empowering individuals, small
collectives and communities.

We are currently in a world where the wider political agenda is heavily influenced
by corporate/globalist interests and increasingly divisive populism and
nationalism that are becoming
ever farther removed from (and often in direct conflict with) the needs of
individuals, communities and the environment. It is primarily through community
and collaborative efforts that this will be reversed.